Efficacy of interventions for suicide and self-injury in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis

Despite increased numbers of children and adolescents seeking and receiving mental health treatment, rates of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) in youth are rising. In the hopes of aiding ongoing efforts to alleviate the burden of SITBs in this vulnerable population, the present study summarizes current knowledge on the efficacy of SITB interventions in children and adolescents. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing treatment effects on SITBs in child and adolescent populations. A total of 112 articles comprising 558 effect sizes were included in analyses. Nearly all interventions produced nonsignificant reductions in SITBs. For binary SITB outcomes, a nonsignificant treatment effect was detected, with an RR of 1.06 (95% CIs [0.99, 1.14]). For continuous SITB outcomes, analyses also yielded a nonsignificant treatment effect (g = − 0.04 [− 0.12, 0.05]). These patterns were largely consistent across SITB outcomes, regardless of intervention type, treatment components, sample and study characteristics, and publication year. Our findings highlight opportunities for improving SITB intervention development and implementation in child and adolescent populations. The most efficacious interventions are likely to directly target the causes of SITBs; therefore, future research is needed to identify the causal processes underlying the onset and maintenance of SITBs in youth.